The mess they left behind

The Conservatives left behind an £82 million black hole in Shropshire’s finances after 16 years of failure and waste.

When the Liberal Democrats took control in May last year, they found a council on the brink of bankruptcy – drained by years of reckless spending and mismanagement.

The Conservatives blew millions on consultants costing taxpayers up to £17,000 a day, while services were slashed and communities ignored.

They didn’t even have anything to show for the millions they wasted, with Shropshire’s roads left in a dire state of disrepair.

Now the Lib Dems are working to clean up the mess, bring spending under control, and protect the vital services residents rely on.

After years of Conservative neglect, Shropshire finally has a council focused on fixing problems – not creating them.

Here are just some of the controversial things the Conservatives did in their final years of running Shropshire Council:

• They blew £38 million on a road that was never going to be built. The controversial North West Road would have cost in excess of £215 million, which Shropshire Council could never have afforded even with some funding from the Government. Just think how many potholes they could have repaired with that money!
• They blew £51 million on buying Shrewsbury’s three shopping centres, against advice, only for their combined value to fall by £41 million to just £10 million.
• They then blew £6.2 million on finance consultants to tell them where they need to make cuts.
• The Conservative Leader of Shropshire Council at the time even admitted that the council was "unbelievably close to bankruptcy”.

Since taking control of the council in May 2025, the Liberal Democrats have been uncovering more and more examples of mismanagement and waste that no-one knew about.

The Liberal Democrats are now working hard to turn things around at Shropshire Council to give residents the value for money they deserve.